Project objectives

The primary aim of the SANTERO project was to promote the enhancement of risk-based surveillance methods suitable for implementation across industries and countries in Europe as well as their dissemination and integration into existing surveillance routines in order to sustain progress towards their harmonised effective and efficient application. More specifically, SANTERO pursued the following objectives

• To refine and enhance current methods for risk-based surveillance to increase their suitability and flexibility and thereby ensure their widespread implementation (e.g. https://www.fp7-risksur.eu/). This will include novel approaches on a range of aspects such as harmonizing the documentation of surveillance activities, and by using behavioural approaches such as nudging to increase surveillance uptake by targeted end users.
• To apply novel methods and approaches in populations and for hazards where risk-based surveillance is not yet widely adopted such as aquaculture and antimicrobial residues, to gain experience in the practical application within diverse industries and settings and to provide feedback on the utility of the methods and tools.
• To increase the accessibility of risk-based surveillance methods and to reduce obstacles to implementation by providing excellence and consultation.

Our work

SAFOSO was the project coordinator and was also involved in different tasks:

• Task 2.2: SAFOSO conducted a case study about the surveillance system for antimicrobial residues in Switzerland regarding the applicability and advantages of risk-based surveillance
• Task 3.1: SAFOSO provided knowledge dissemination targeting the community of experts, active people in the design and/or evaluation of animal health surveillance programmes, etc. As a tool for dissemination, SAFOSO organized a virtual summer school in June 2016 (https://santero.fp7-risksur.eu/news-events/santero-summer-school)
• Task 3.3: SAFOSO conducted an analysis of existing standards for the hazards selected for the case studies referred to under task 2.2.SANTERO was a 12-month project, which started in March 2016.

SANTERO was funded under the auspices of the Era-Net programme ANIHWA. Participating partners are supported by the national funding bodies and/or by their own institutional funds.